Mumbai to host Champions T20 League final

The first Champions T20 League (CT20L) will be played in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai from December 3 to 10, reports G Krishnan.

The first Champions T20 League (CT20L) will be played in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai from December 3 to 10.

The final, in which the winner will take home US$ 3 million out of a total prize money of $6 million, will be in Mumbai, the venue being either the Cricket Club of India or the DY Patil Stadium. Announcing this on Thursday after unveiling the CT20L logo here, Lalit Modi, chairman of the League said, "As the CT20L is in December and most of the games would be at night, various factors come into play. We had earlier shortlisted Jaipur, Delhi and Mohali as the venues but in December, northern India becomes very cold at night and the dew factor also comes into play. We have frozen the venues to Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, the fixtures of which would be finalised in due course."

The eight teams will include the winners and runners-up of domestic T20 competitions from the three founding members — India (Rajasthan and Chennai), Australia (WACA and Victoria) and South Africa (Noshua Titans and Noshua Dolphins) and England (Middlesex) and Pakistan (the winner will be determined from their domestic competition beginning on October 4). ESPN-Star Sports has the global commercial rights for the event.

Divided loyalties

"The League will not, as a strict rule, allow teams to hire new players to help you crown as champions," he added.

In case of a player facing the problem of choosing which team to represent in the CT20L, Modi said, "The CT20L has come to an agreement with all the participating boards.

As per the contractual obligation, the concerned player could determine the team he wishes to represent." SA’s Albie Morkel and Australian Micheal Hussey face such a dilemma.

Morkel and Hussey turned out for IPL runners-up Chennai but their respective domestic teams, Nashua Titans and Western Australia Cricket Association have also qualified for the CT20L and their choice will be driven by the contractual obligation. However, in the case of Morne Morkel, signed by the Jaipur team but did not play a single IPL game, will turn out for the Titans as he helped them qualify for the League.

Going public

Modi said he'd encourage all the IPL franchises to go public, taking a leaf from Emerging Media, the owners of the Jaipur team. It’s good for the game," Modi said. "Emerging Media approached me first and I was happy with the idea. I would encourage all the franchises to go public. It is good for the game," he said.